The Hellman Foundation is deeply committed to community centered approaches grounded in the values and practices of trust-based philanthropy and participatory grantmaking. In 2022, with a goal to advance community leadership and cede grantmaking power to local Bay Area leaders, the Hellman Foundation team created a Community Panel to collaboratively review proposals and determine funding recommendations. We continue to learn from, evolve, and apply our Community Panel model, which has already strengthened the impact of our collective work. ​

Community Panel

Rasheq Zarif (he/him)
First Mile Capital
Rasheq Zarif (he/him) is an operating partner at First Mile Capital, a real estate investment and operating firm backed by Crown Acquisitions. He comes with more than two decades of Innovation leadership around Mobility, Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Real Estate. Previously, Rasheq served in the U.S. Future of Mobility Tech leader at Deloitte, where he was responsible for advancing and commercializing the firm’s growth in shared and autonomous ecosystems. Before that, he served in a variety of leadership and innovation related positions at Mercedes-Benz. Rasheq also volunteers his time serving various local efforts as a public school advocate, community leader, and as a youth soccer coach. He comes with engineering degrees from Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley.

​Rasheq joined the Community Panel in 2026.